There have been a number of prior proposals to prepare composites which consist essentially of thermosetting or thermoplastic resinous matrix materials having dispersed therein inorganic reinforcing fillers. Such materials are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,764,456 and 4,442,243, which describe mica-reinforced thermoplastic composites having improved durability, physical and aesthetic properties which are prepared by mixing the resin and the mica in the presence of propylene polymer wax. The mica may be pre-treated to provide functional groups thereon for subsequent chemical reaction with the propylene polymer wax.
The use of inorganic fillers, such as mica, does however present certain technical difficulties. Mica is a difficult material to process in making such composites, and is abrasive, so that it tends to wear out processing machinery which it contacts.
In addition, the prior art has disclosed the use of cellulosic fillers as additives for both thermoplastic and thermosetting resins. Such fillers have been derived from the finely ground products of wood pulp, the shells of peanuts or walnuts, corn cobs, rice hulls, vegetable fibers or certain bamboo-type reeds or grasses.
The great abundance and cheapness of such cellulosic materials in every part of the globe has made these cellulosic materials attractive sources for producing useful fillers on thermoset resins (such as the phenolics) has been an accepted practice for many years, their use in thermoplastics has been limited mainly as a result of difficulties in dispersing the cellulose particles in thermoplastic melts, poor adhesion (wettability) and in consequence inferior mechanical properties of the molded composites.
The dispersion of discontinuous cellulose based fibers into polymeric matrix can be greatly improved by pretreatment of the fibers with a plastic polymer and a lubricant, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,943,079. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,376,144, composites made from cellulose fibers dispersed in a matrix of plasticized vinyl chloride polymer are described wherein a cyclic trimer of toluene diisocyanate is used to improve adhesion.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,323,625 describes composites produced from grafted olefin polymers and cellulose fibers. The polyolefins employed have been grafted with other polymers carrying methylol phenolic groups before being combined with cellulosic fibers and bonding agents, such as phenol-aldehyde resin, a polyisocyanate or the like.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,107,110 describes .alpha.-cellulose fibers coated with a graft copolymer comprising 1,2-polybutadiene to which is grafted an acrylate such as butylmethacrylate for reinforcing of polyethylene and other plastic compositions. Japanese patent publication No. 137,243/78 also describes a cellulosic material which has been acetylated with gaseous acetic anhydride as a reinforcing agent for polyolefins.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,485,777 describes compatibilization of polyvinylchloride or poly(methyl methacrylate) with grafted cellulose. U.S. Pat. No. 3,645,939 also shows that polyethylene, or polyvinylchloride or acrylic rubber can be compatibilized with cellulosic fibers in the presence of an ethylenically-unsaturated carboxylic acid or anhydride under conditions which generate free radicals on the polymers, so that the ethylenically-unsaturated carboxylic acid or anhydride reacts with and couples with the thermoplastic polymer and the polyhydric polymer (i.e. cellulose).
U.S. Pat. No. 4,209,433 describes treating wood material with polyisocyanate before mixing with thermosetting phenol-formaldehyde resin. U.S. Pat. No. 4,241,133 describes mixing elongated wood flakes with a binder, which is a polyisocyanate, and then hot-pressing into the form of an elongated structural member, such as a beam or post.
British Pat. No. 1,585,074 describes a process of manufacturing cellulose-polyurethane material by reaction of fibrous cellulosics with impregnated polyisocyanates in the presence of a catalyst, which is zinc octoate.